About

Carole Presern, Director

Carole Presern has held several leadership positions including Head of the Office of Board Affairs of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria; Executive Director of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH); Managing Director for Change Management at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and prior to that as Counsellor at the UK Mission in Geneva, covering specialised agencies, health and humanitarian affairs. Before this Carole worked for the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) in Asia and Africa for many years.

Carole has also served on numerous boards, including the Global Fund, Unitaid, UNAIDS, the Investors Group of the Global Financing Facility, as well as in a personal capacity as a Trustee of the International HIV Alliance, the Orchid Project, the Center for Reproductive Rights and of the Wellcome Trust’s Psychosis Flagship Advisory Board. Carole has been appointed as Professor of the Practice in Global Health Policy (designate, part time) from September 2020 at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). Carole has significant experience in mentoring, and is currently undertaking an ILM Level 7 Certificate for Executive and Senior Level Coaches and Mentors.

Carole originally trained in nursing/midwifery and anthropology before gaining a doctorate in Public Health Policy (University of London) and Diploma in Health Systems Management (LSHTM). With a career in Public Health and International Development spanning over three decades and having worked in three different continents, Carole has extensive diplomatic, negotiation, political and governance expertise.

For more on Carole and her life and career, please read the following article published in the Lancet or listen to the podcast When I Grow Up.